


Little Brother

by Jathis



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Albinism, Asexual Character, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2015-11-12
Packaged: 2018-05-01 08:37:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5199350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jathis/pseuds/Jathis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Antoni and Byelobog continue to deal with the cruelties people are capable of performing on others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Brother

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dangersocks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dangersocks/gifts).



Antoni never understood exactly why there was a belief that albinos were a perfect source for magical components. It seemed to come from nowhere and made little sense. If owning a limb from an albino was lucky; then what was the albino the limb came from? Were they unlucky? Were their separate parts lucky while their whole was unlucky?

He kept these thoughts to himself as he watched Byelobog tend to the boy they had just rescued. There had been word that a local children's hospital was dealing in trafficking and the sale of limbs. They had managed to shut the place down and punish those working there but had only found one surviving albino child, a boy of about three or four years old.

They had taken the boy's arms.

Byelobog murmured tenderly into the boy's ear, rocking him close to his chest. Slowly the trembling in the child's body started to calm and then stop, his body finally starting to relax as his eyes closed and he pressed into the older albino. Byelobog sighed and stood up then, holding him close. “We should go,” he said.

“What do we do with the boy?” Antoni asks.

“We take him with us.”

“...He can't be a Scout. He has no arms.”

“I am well aware of his amount of limbs.”

“Couldn't we give him to some people in that town over there? An orphanage or couple seeking a child?”

Byelobog's eyes flicked in the town's direction only briefly before he looked back at Antoni. “The people there knew very well what was happening here. I suspect they kept quiet because this place paid them for their silence. Do you think the boy will last with them?”

“I suppose not...” Antoni muttered.

“Then we will travel until we find a place for the child,” Byelobog murmured.

Antoni sighed but did not press the point any further, following after Byelobog.

* * *

He supposed the boy was good at not making himself a nuisance. When not being carried the child walked, Byelobog's hand on his back to help him keep his balance. The older albino had given the child a large sunhat to wear, protecting him from the sun whenever they moved out in the open.

The child was unnaturally quiet for a long time.

“Do you think they cut out his..?” The look Byelobog gave Antoni made him shut his mouth before he could finish his thought.

It was not until several weeks later that Antoni learned the boy could not only speak but was finally willing to speak with him. It was while Byelobog was gone for the night, scouting the area ahead for their travel in the morning. Antoni had been dozing off, the child asleep nearby. Something poking him roused him and he blinked, yawning as he rubbed sleep from his eyes, frowning as the boy poked him with the toe of his foot again. “Hm?”

“Bad dream...”

Antoni was about to say something when the boy pressed against him and he fell silent, hugging him absently as he yawned once more. “So...you can talk?”

“Yes...”

“How come you haven't talked before?”

“Talk to big brother all the time,” the child mumbled, shifting to make himself comfortable.

The other frowned at that. Byelobog hadn't told him that the kid had spoken to him before. He opened his mouth to ask what the boy's name was but was stopped by a loud yawn and the telltale signs of the boy's body falling limp in slumber. He snorted a little but leaned back, holding the boy as he waited for Byelobog's return.

Byelobog smiled to himself when he slipped back into camp and found Antoni fast asleep with the boy. He shook his head and fed their campfire, keeping watch over the pair.

 


End file.
